Vines of Fate
by The Lanternkeeper
Summary: My twin and I had always been slaves. It was never our choice... 11 years later, we go to a fancy-looking academy. Things in life just got a whole lot more complicated. Rated T. Mild language, and some violence. OCxYuukixOC
1. Gates

**I've only read the first two editions of this manga, so I'm taking what I know, and making out what I think. I'm putting this completely in English, without most of the honorifics, so I'm sorry if I offend some people. By the way, this is my first really serious fanfic, so if I don't do a good job, let me know and I'll...(i don't like saying it, it makes me feel icky inside.)...beat you...down. There, I said it! And I feel like an icky human being, too. T.T ...Anyways, here's the story.**

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l never understood them. The outside children. How could they be so happy all the time? It never made any sense to me. They were always so...unchained. How did their masters let them be so free? Maybe they don't have masters. Not like me. Not like us. We have to do whatever he says. He hurts us sometimes. He makes us feel bad, like when he fails a job, he comes home and he says mean things to us. I don't know what his words mean, but they don't sound good. We got let outside once. Only once. We met a nice girl. Then, our master came outside, and he dragged us back inside by our ears. The girl's name was Yuuki. We didn't find out what her last name was. She never got to tell us...

**11 YEARS LATER...**

My twin and I stood before the gates of Cross Academy. We didn't know how we got there. We didn't know why, or how we were set free. But, something... something drew us here, like it was divine intervention. Yeah, right. I laid that theory on my twin, and got laughed at. He said he didn't mean it, but I'm not so sure. My name is Yoshitoki Hamano, and my twin is Yamashita Hamano. We're fifteen years old, and identical. We have sort of a twin-mind-channel thing, and it works pretty well.

I took a deep breath, and looked over at him. "Ready, brother?"

He took one, as well, and replied, "Whenever you are, brother."

We pushed open the gates together, and stepped inside the courtyard. It was so big! I knew my twin was thinking the same.

"Where do we go now, Yama?"

"How should I know, Yoshi?"

Just then, a girl about our age landed in front of us. We looked up, and you could see the tree branch that she started from. "Are you two new here?"

"Who are you?" My twin and I asked together.

"Yuuki Cross. You are?"

My twin and I looked at each other. Could this really be her? That girl from eleven years ago?

We didn't get to find out, because at that point, a man in a fur coat (? It was early September.) came over and said, "Yuuki, who are your new friends?"

"Headmaster! W-What are you doing here?"

"I saw my daughter out the window with two young fellows who I hadn't met before, and oh! Curiosity got the better of me."

My twin and I cocked our heads to the side. "Huh? 'Daughter'?" "'Headmaster'?"

We pointed at the girl. "You're the headmaster's daughter?"

She blushed at this. "Uh, yeah. Hehe."

My twin and I looked at each other, and shrugged. "Hm."

The man addressed us now. "And who are you two?" He said with a smile on his face.

I hesitated to speak. When I started to open my mouth, my twin stole the opportunity. "We would like to enroll in this school, sir."

"Well! You get right to the point, don't you? No matter," (My twin scowled at this, as the man said it like it was a bad thing.) "You may most certainly enroll here."

"Awesome!" I exclaimed, as I high fived my twin.

"If..."

'Uh-oh,' I thought. 'Whenever someone more powerful than you can give you something, says they'll give it to you, then says "if", it's generally a bad thing.'

"...you have the necessary funds."

My twin and I looked at each other, checked our pockets and found nothing. "Uh-oh. Looks like..."

"We're broke." My twin finished.

"What are we going to do?"

"I think I may have a solution for you two..." The man said with a cryptic grin on his face, and his glasses angled so that the glare was completely on the lenses.

Something inside gave me a feeling I was going to regret this later.

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**Well? What do you think? Please R&R. But remember, I'm not very familiar with this series. kthxbai**


	2. Intertwining

**Okay, then. We last left the twins at the gate, with the headmaster. What will happen next? Let's find out! Aaaaaaaaaand... ACTION!!!!**

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I looked at my twin, and we both had pained expressions on our faces. This is only going to result in trouble, I concluded. We were sitting outside the man's office, in the school. "Yama?"

"Yeah, Yoshi?" I heard a slight tremble creep into his voice.

"What do you think he's going to have us do?"

"Maybe he'll have us work here."

"Maybe we'll have to be his personal assistants."

"Maybe he wants you in here!!" the man interrupted.

My twin and I both gave each other a scared glance, and went inside.

"Well!" the man said, after spinning in his chair to face us. "It seems you two are rather low on funds. In that case..."

'Please don't say assistants. Please don't say assistants...' I repeated in my head.

"You two will be on the staff of guardians, along with my daughter, and...ah! Here he is."

A silver-haired boy walked in, and sat down on one of the other chairs. "You wanted to see me, headmaster?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yama's back stiffen. He knew something. I just couldn't figure out what.

"Yes. I want you to show our new recruits around, and teach them the ropes on how to be school guardians."

"Yes, sir." He spoke with very little emotion in his voice. I eyed him with uncertainty, as he stood up and gestured for us to follow him out of the room.

"Okay," he said, once we were out in the hall. "My name's Zero. At this school, there's a Day Class, and a Night Class. Our job is to make sure that they stay separate, to a degree."

"Why?"

"...Can you two keep a secret?"

"From who?" My twin inquired.

"The Day Class." We nodded.

"The Night Class consists of completely vampires."

I gasped audibly. Vampires? Yama looked nonchalant, however.

"It's our job to make sure that they don't get mobbed by the Day Class." I looked puzzled. "You'll see why we have to do what we have to do."

"Okay, then. Do we need any special training?"

"Nah. If he didn't think you were already up to the task, he wouldn't have set you here."

"Okay! When do we start?"

Zero looked at his watch, and his face became worried. "Oh, crap! We're supposed to be out there now! Come on, you two. Hurry!"

We ran outside. Yuuki was already there. "There you are, Zero! Where have you been?!"

"Orienting our new recruits, these two! Wake up, you guys!"

We snapped to attention, and started corralling the girls back from the Night Class. "That's it, that's it. Back it up!" we said in unison.

Later... (9:00 pm)

"Well, Yama. Our first job! ...Kinda... Anyways, we got in! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah. It's awesome! I wonder what kinds of adventures await us here?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Come on...What all does this story of ours have? Twins, a shady looking comrade, a mysterious girl, a class full of vampires? What doesn't this story have?!"

"I don't know."

"Hm. Well, we better get some sleep. Good night."

"Yeah. Good night," I said, distantly. It was midnight by the time I fell asleep.

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**My, my, what a good story we have developing here. What will happen next? That's for me to figure out, and you to read when I do figure it out.**


	3. Mistaken

**Okay, here's the next chapter! By the way, I finally got to a bookstore, and bought the third and fourth volumes of the manga, so I hope I can make my story more realistic (in a sense). Anyways, here it is!**

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I don't know how, but I finally got to sleep that night. I had a dream, and a horrific one at that. I don't remember what it was about, but I did remember this: Zero, holding Yuuki, with blood running down his neck, and fangs protruding from his mouth. I woke up, and didn't get to see what happened next.

When I woke up, I found myself sweating, and breathing heavily. My eyes must have been wide, for, when I accidentally woke up Yama, he asked, "Yoshi? What's wrong? Did one of the Night Class students get you? Hahaha..." and went back to sleep. I had to take a few shuddering breathes to steady myself. What had that been about? Was Zero really a vampire? No. It couldn't be... Could it?

Reluctantly, I went back to sleep. A little too much, I might add. When I woke up, it was 7:23. 7:23?! Class starts in seven minutes!! I rushed out of the room, after preparing myself for the day, grabbed breakfast on the way out the door, and sped off to class. I reached the room just before the bell rang. That was waay too close.

_After class..._

"ARRGH!! Can you believe all the homework the teacher assigned?! It's insanity!!" Yama was ranting, so I could tell that he hadn't slept well either. My fault, probably. He kept ranting until we got to our room, at which point we dropped our stuff off, and grabbed our patrol gear.

Yama had a pair of daggers that had an enchantment on them, so that they would only hurt vampires, but not fatally. I had a sword, which was a fairly thick and intricately designed cross that I wore around my neck. I used it as a sword by taking the chain that it was on off my neck. The long part of the cross extended to form the blade, and the chain links melded together to form the hand guard. I loved it. After all, what could possibly be cooler than a sword?

We went out to the gates, and met up with Yuuki and Zero. Neither looked well rested for some reason. Good thing there were four of us. We successfully held back the crowd, but I noticed that Yuuki was slacking a little. Not intentionally, of course, but, I knew that it was still bad. I went over to her, and whispered in her ear, "Wake up." She woke up, obviously, and snapped to attention. Relieved to see her doing her job, I went back to my post.

_That night..._

"OW!! Yama?! Why'd you do that?!"

We were getting ready for bed, both shirtless, but otherwise clothed. My twin was furious for some reason, and had ambushed me as I came out of the closet, punching me in the chest.

"Don't play dumb, you little weasel!! I saw you getting close with Yuuki!!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"I saw you whisper into her ear!! It was probably something romantic and crap."

"Well, obviously, you didn't, because I didn't whisper anything like that. All I did was help her wake up."

"LIAR!!!" And he jumped on me.

He pinned me to the ground and started pounding on me. I shielded myself as best as I could, but some of his attacks broke through.

"Yama!! Yoshi!! What's going on here?!" Uh-oh. The headmaster. My twin and I were granted a room in his house, probably so that he could keep an eye on us.

"Headmaster! Um, uh... nothing?" Yama finished slowly, panicking, I could tell. He had jumped off me almost as soon as the door opened.

Yama got a stern look from the headmaster, and I knew that he knew that he was in for it. "My office. No- As soon as you're completely dressed." And he left.

Yama scowled at me. "Great. Now look what you've done!"

"Calm down, Yama. I'll come with you and explain, and everything will be fine. You'll see."

He was still glaring when we left the room.

_In the headmaster's office..._

"Yamashita Hamano, I should expel you for this. I have a strict, zero-tolerance policy concerning fighting. I especially didn't expect you to be fighting your brother, your own twin!" He put his head in his hands, and sighed.

"Please, sir. It's not his fault!"

"It sure looked like his fault to me! You can't make him attack you!"

"No, sir, I unintentionally provoked him."

"Really? Continue."

"Well, sir, it involves your daughter, Yuuki." I saw his eyes widen, and I knew that I had to go on. "Well, sir, she looked very tired today, when we were doing our jobs, so I went over to help her wake up. All I did was whisper to her, 'Wake up.' She woke up, and I went back to my post. Then, tonight, shortly before you came in, he attacked me, because he thought I was getting too close with her. Then you came in, and, well, here we are now," I finished, sheepishly.

"I see... Do you have any idea why she might be tired?"

"No, sir. No clue," I responded.

"Hmmm... Very well. You are both dismissed."

"And me? Am I in trouble?" Yama asked.

"No. I can understand why you would be jealous. She is very beautiful, after all," he said, going into 'loving-father-mode.'

We went back to our room, and went to bed.

"I'm... sorry, Yoshi. I was way out of line."

"It's all right, Yama. I can understand why you would be angry. Can we just forget this ever happened?"

"Sure. Good night."

"G'night."

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**Well, I guess this shows the possible hostilities between our two main characters. Will the twins work it out? Or will Yuuki unintentionally break these two apart? Please R&R, as always. Thanks!**


	4. Deceit

**Hey, everybody! After an incredibly long time, I got the next chapter done! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Vampire Knight**_**, cuz it belongs to Matsuri Hino.**

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The next day, I got called to the headmaster's office. Just me, not Yama. Naturally, I was scared as hell. I arrived at the same time as Zero. Shockingly enough, we both reached for the handle at the same time. The minute his hand touched mine, the most bizarre thing ever happened. My vision went a sort of light blood red, and an intense heat sensation swept over my body, followed by a wave of extreme cold. As quickly as it had come on, it went away. I recoiled, and Zero gave me this look that said, 'What the hell's with him?' as he opened the door. Eyebrows knit, I followed him. Just what was that? Didn't matter. If it was important, I'd find out one way or another.

The headmaster was sitting behind his desk, facing away from us. He said, "Zero, Yoshi, sit down. I want you two to do something for me." Zero and I looked at each other, he with disgust, I with intrigue. What was the headmaster thinking? _Him_ and _me_? Unthinkable.

Zero broke the following silence, saying, "What... do you need us to do?"

The headmaster whirled in his chair to face us. "I need you to find something for me." I almost had a suspicion that he'd lost something in his room and wanted us to find it. Ugh... "I need you to find my daughter." Two pairs of eyes widened, and Zero and I asked at the same time.

"Yuuki's missing? What happened?"

Zero slammed his hands on the table, demanding, "How long has she been missing? Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Zero-san, calm down!" I requested, placing my hands against his chest and pushing him back so that he didn't damage the desk or the headmaster (which was a distinct possibility). "Maybe it just happened today. We need to let the headmaster tell us about what happened." I looked towards him imploringly, mentally telling him, 'GET ON WITH IT!'

"Er, yes... You probably won't like hearing this, Zero-kun, but she's been kidnapped."

"BY... WHO?"

"Whom," I corrected.

Zero roared, "WHATEVER! WHO DID IT?"

"Ehh... I don't know," the headmaster said, shrugging sheepishly. Wait a sec... Shouldn't the headmaster be making the student feel embarrassed? Eh, just seems a bit backwards.

Zero continued raging. "AND WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?"

"A few hours ago."

"That explains why he didn't tell us sooner, Zero. You can stop trying to kill him now," I said, grunting in my efforts to save the headmaster's life.

He grumbled as he sat back down. "So, do we have a lead?"

"Yes. I-"

"Wait! I have a question. Why did you pick me? Is Yama going, too?"

"No. If Zero and Yama were left alone, and one of them got angry... well, I can't afford to lose any of my Disciplinary Committee members, now can I?"

"Oh."

Zero cleared his throat. "Our lead?"

"Yes, right," the headmaster said hurriedly, handing me a map. "You should start looking here. Leave by tonight. Good luck."

Zero and I stood up and bowed, and we left. Outside the boy's dorm building, we talked some more. "Who do you think would kidnap Yuuki?" I asked, looking up at him. He's really tall!

"... I don't know..."

"Can you read a map? Because I've got no idea how to use this thing," I asked, turning the map over and over, until Zero grabbed it and turned it right side up. "Oh. Maybe... you should carry the map," I suggested, handing it over.

"..."

"Okay, let's meet back here, say... 4:00? How's that sound?"

"...Sure..." And we went inside to our separate rooms.

Oh, God... What am I going to tell Yama? What I didn't know, though, was that I didn't have to. "So... You're going on an important mission to find Yuuki?"

"How'd you find out?"

"The headmaster." Of course. "I'm alright with it, just so you know."

I was genuinely surprised. The two of us had always been together... and now, Headmaster Cross, the blind fool, was trying to split us up. How dare he...

"Are... Are you sure?"

"Yeah... We need to learn how to operate separately." He looked down at the floor when he said this. "Headmaster Cross knows what he's doing. You should- oof!"

He had his breath knocked out of him by a fierce hug from me. "I'll miss you," I whispered in his ear. He hugged me back. "We'll find her. Bring her back, not a scratch, in three days' time, this Friday. Count on it," I finished, clapping him on the shoulder.

"..." He was silent, but nodded in agreement. I knew from his posture that he was trying desperately trying not to cry. Silly Yama...

I packed up my things, and was on my way out the door, when I noticed that my neck was feeling unusually bare. Grabbing at my neck, I realized that my necklace was gone! Yama.

I looked back at the window where we had said goodbye, to see him with one foot on the windowsill on his way out. He grinned at me evilly, as he said, "Too bad the last person you could trust just took you for a sucker," while dangling my necklace by the chain. He jumped out, but not before I got a perfect look at him. Something was wrong in this picture. His eyes. Eyes of my brother, but blood red. 'Damn vampires...' I thought as I ran outside.

Zero was waiting for me when I rushed out of the door. "Hey. What's the ru-"

"It's Yama. He's gone and betrayed me. He stole my weapon, and he's gone. I don't know why, but I have the feeling that this is connected to Yuuki's disappearance. Come on, we're leaving," I told him, as I began storming off towards the gates. God help anyone who gets in my way now.

Zero actually had to step lively to keep up with me. "Well, then this means you need a new weapon."

I stopped in my tracks, causing Zero to run into me. I whirled, grabbed him by the shirt, pulled his face down to my level, and glared into his eyes. Speaking in a deadly low voice, I cautioned him, "Do you honestly think that a man who has suddenly lost this much, this quickly, has any need of any weapons whatsoever?"

"N-no..."

"Good," I finished in my iciest tone. "Now, then, let's get going."

"Wait!" He leaped in front of me. "If you really think that, then prove it!" He pulled out his gun and aimed it at me. Aw, crap!

I automatically leapt to the side, dodging the bullets. "I knew it! You ARE a vampire!"

"You mean you didn't know that? I thought that was common knowledge!"

"Apparently not."

He kept firing, until I rolled up to him and landed an amazing uppercut to his jaw. ...ow... that hurt my hand! I kicked the gun out of his hand, and tackled him to the ground. "...Ow..." was all he said.

"You see?" I hissed in his ear. "I **told** you I could defend myself!"

"My, my... what happened here?" I turned my head enough to see a tall man... no, vampire, walking towards us, his dark hair curtaining his face.

"I taught this guy a lesson. Why do **you** care?" I demanded, getting up from the ground, accenting the last sentence by glaring at him.

He remained calm while answering, "Because you and I both hate him."

I rolled my eyes, responding, "I don't hate him, he just got in my way, like you are now, so I'd suggest moving. Who are you, anyway?"

"Kaname Kuran; I'm a-"

"Pureblood vampire, I know. Now, unless you have something important to say to me, I'd suggest you get out of my way before I kill you."

He remained silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Could you really do it, though?" he whispered in my ear. "Would you be willing to face the consequences of performing such an action? Could you- Oof!" He got his wind knocked out of him by a solid uppercut to the midsection, courtesy of Yoshitoki Hamano Enterprises.

"Damn vampire!" I hissed as he backed away. "Maybe Zero was right. Maybe you really are all out to destroy people. Well, I'd like to get one thing straight, **vampire**: No one, and I mean **NO ONE**, is going to pull one over on me! Now, get out of my way before I really do kill you, vampire!"

Kaname, coughing, glared at me as he backed away towards the Night Class Dorms. Zero came up behind me and asked, "How did you manage to hit the pureblood without him blocking it?"

I looked up at him and responded acidly, "I told you. I don't need weapons. He may have been good, but in this case, I was better. Get your things; we're leaving." I turned away and began walking silently towards the gate. I could feel Zero's uneasy look on the back of my head, but I didn't care. Nothing, and I really do mean nothing, is going to get in my way now. Anything or anyone that does should have a death wish, because I made a vow, right then and there, that I would destroy anything detracting to my mission now.

Approaching the gates, I found that they were locked. The Headmaster must have seen what happened and was trying to keep me in. Sorry, Headmaster, but you're going to need a new lock for your gates. Deep breath in, high kick, no more locked gates. I was now free to find my brother.

Look out, Yama's captors, because you're dead when I find you.

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Ooh! Yoshi seriously burned Kaname! Sry to all Kaname lovers out there... pleez dont keel meh. Iz just a storee... Anyways, thanks for staying with me and not giving up through the long breaks between chapters! Please R&R!

**Right**  
**Down**  
**There**  
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	5. Tricks and Treats

**I BE BACK, B*TCHES! Yes, after 9 MONTHS of waiting, I finally got my writer's block blown up. It took $600, two tons of TNT, 1,873 matches because they kept getting blown out, and a lot of do-overs. Anyway, the story is back! ENJOY!**

**A/N: Regardless of what the title says, this chapter is NOT meant to be Halloween-themed. If you get something of that vibe, great. It's not supposed to be there.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight. It belongs to Matsuri Hino.**

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"Yoshi-kun. Don't you think you're letting your emotions get the best of you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm in complete control. Now, don't try to get in my way or I'll shoot your brains out with your own gun."

I knew Zero was rolling his eyes even though he was walking behind me.

We had been walking for a few hours when this happened. After a few more, Zero apparently began to get concerned. "Yoshi-kun, shouldn't we be following the map?"

I whirled on him. "A _map_? Clearly your twin powers aren't as advanced as ours. Two words: homing system. I'll find him, or die trying. Probably the first one, though."

"Have you forgotten that we're supposed to be looking for Yuuki?"

Holding up a finger, I silenced him. "Correction: _You're_ looking for Yuuki. I quit the mission the very second Yama got taken."

Zero looked stunned. "You'll get in trouble with the headmas-"

"TO HELL WITH THE HEADMASTER!" I yelled. "I'm going my own way to look for Yama..." Trailing off, I realized that something was wrong here. "You're acting differently than usual, Zero, you know that? You're more of a straight-edged person now. More considerate. It's weird."

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Cautiously, I asked, "Tell me, I've forgotten, what's bad about vampires?"

"They're... awful. They suck the blood of humans. They're humans in bestial for-" I roundhouse kicked him in the side of the head, cutting him off.

"NO! Release Zero!" I commanded, bouncing lightly in a fighting stance.

The not-Zero wiped blood off the corner of his mouth, then glared at me. "You suck, you know that? What gave me away?"

I answered impatiently. "Zero always refers to vampires as 'beasts in human form'. When you got it mixed up, I knew you were in him."

"Hmph! That may be so, but you're still defenseless against an unknown being. You have no choice but to-"

"Surrender!" The voice was still Zero's, but it came from behind me. Two Zeros? I looked back and forth from one to the other. Before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by eight not-Zeros.

"Dammit..." I cursed. Half a day of walking had taken its toll on my strength, and I wasn't fit to fight one Zero, let alone eight. Reluctantly, I relaxed my stance, and the Zero behind me grabbed my wrists in a handcuff-like grip.

Six of the not-Zeros then vanished, and the one that wasn't restraining me blindfolded me. They led me up what felt like a mountain and into a cave.

Upon entering, they threw me in what felt like a cage. "Yoshi?" My brother? "Yoshi, is that you?" I felt the blindfold come off my eyes to see... nothing. The cave was lit by torches, momentarily blinding me. Slowly, though, my eyes adjusted.

"Yama," I whispered. We hugged, both of us crying.

"I thought I'd never see you again," he whispered back.

Sniffling, I replied, "I knew I'd find you. Eventually. It took shorter than expected, but I did find you."

"There's just one problem," he noted. "Now, you're trapped, too."

Ceasing my tears, I stood up. "Not for long," I said, grinning for the first time in a long time. Remaining silent for a moment, I began analyzing the bars that contained us. After a few seconds, I had it. Simple.

*CHOP, CLANG!*

The shattered bars fell to the floor, and I stepped out. "Come on, Yama. Where's Yuuki?"

Reunited once more, he explained. "Okay, you'll never believe this. She's actually the one behind all this!"

"What?"

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I know, right? Anyway, she's this way."

We ran down a tunnel, deeper and deeper into the mountain, until we were arrived in what appeared to be a throne room. On said throne was a girl. She wore a plain, white dress with bits of twig and rock in her light brown hair. She wasn't Yuuki.

"Well, you two certainly have been naughty, haven't you?" she asked in the tone of a teacher talking to her students. "It's not nice to break things that aren't yours. I'll have to make new bars for that cell, you know."

"It's not nice to take things that don't belong to you either!" I retorted. "Or people. Now, where's everything you've taken?"

"Hmph!" she pouted. "Well, if we get in a fight in which I have the advantage, I'll most likely say, 'You're mine!'. Does that count?"

"... No," I replied, a little concerned for the childish vampire. "Now answer the question!"

"I turned your brother into a vampire while you were taking your time getting here. Is he mine?"

I turned to Yama. "You're a vampire now?"

His eyebrows knit together as he thought. You'd think he'd know if he was a vampire or not. Clearly, he wasn't real. Dammit... Sighing, I rammed my hand through his side, revealing that this Yamashita was an illusion. "Really?" I asked the girl. "An illusion? Seriously, I'm losing my patience. Where's my brother? And Zero, and anybody else you've taken? And no lies this time," I finished threateningly.

Her expression turned sad. "I'm sorry, I really don't know. I'm not the one behind this, really. I just saw you down there and thought you might make a good friend or snack or something, so I peeked inside your mind and replicated it onto the real world in order to lure you up here. But, you're smarter than I thought, and you saw through my game. I'm sorry for fooling you, Yoshitoki-san."

The sad look on her face was too much for me, and I caved. "It's... It's alright, Miss..."

"Ichijo. I'm Takuma-san's distant cousin."

"So, you're a vampire?" She nodded. "Ok, I'll make a deal with you. If you help me find my brother and the other missing people, I'll take you to your cousin." It was strange. This girl made me feel strangely hopeful, like there was a chance that I could get this all to work out. "Now, let's try this again. My name is Yoshitoki Hamano. Pleased to meet you."

She leapt down from her throne and landed gracefully before me. "I'm Chouko Ichijo. It's nice to meet you," she introduced herself, curtsying slightly.

So, my new friend and I left the mountain and started on our way. She told me how she had seen someone with Yama go by the mountain, but she didn't see where they had stopped. She told me that Takuma was her older brother, she didn't like their grandfather, she had run away from home when she was little, she spied on the Night Class often, she thought Akatsuki from the Night Class looked nice, and finally, she told me about how happy she was to have a friend.

"Seriously, I haven't been outside in ages. I've been too afraid of everybody out here, so I just stayed in my cave."

"What did you do for sustenance?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "Well, I occasionally preyed on the passerby who looked like someone the world would be better off without, but nobody else, I promise."

I relaxed slightly. She seemed like a nice enough person, once you got to know her. _Not all vampires are bad_, I realized. _Some of them just need a friend..._

Shaking my head violently, I corrected myself. _Enough with the huggy, fuzzy stuff. Stay focused._

"Are you alright?" Chouko asked concernedly.

Thinking quickly, I lied, "Uh, yeah, there was just a... bug. In my ear."

She giggled. "You do realize that if I can replicate things from your mind onto the real world, I can obviously read it, too, right? You get that?"

I blushed slightly. "Oh. Yeah."

We walked until it was nearly sunset, and we were both a bit worn out.

"Let's stay here for the night, okay?" Chouko asked as she found another cave just as the sun was leaving sight.

Sighing and running my hands through my hair, I agreed. "Sure, alright." After rummaging up enough leaves to make it comfortable, we had two beds, and we went to sleep.

That was the first time the nightmares invaded.

* * *

**Again, REALLY SORRY about the wait, you guys... You can show your forgiveness through reviews and such... *hint, hint...***


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